Journal of Health Care and Research

Journal of Health Care and Research

Hiroshi Bando^1,2iD*, Yu Nishikiori², Masahiro Bando², Akiyo Yoshioka^2
1Tokushima University and Medical Research, Tokushima, Japan
²Integrative Medicine Japan (IMJ), Shikoku Island division, Tokushima, Japan

Corresponding Author: Hiroshi Bando ^{ORCID iD}
Address: Tokushima University /Medical Research, Nakashowa 1-61, Tokushima 770-0943, Japan.
Received date: 06 May 2025; Accepted date: 04 June 2025; Published date: 11 June 2025

Citation: Bando H, Nishikiori Y, Bando M, Yoshioka A. The Role of Mental Health Professionals for Social Problems Worldwide in The Future. J Health Care and Research. 2025 Jun 11;6(2):37-39.

Copyright © 2025 Bando H, Nishikiori Y, Bando M, Yoshioka A. This is an open-access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords: Holistic Medicine, Well-Being, Shigeaki Hinohara, New Elderly Association (NEA), Hinohara-Ism

Abstract

As global perspectives for political, economic, and social problems, several important international issues have been ongoing with no resolution. Such battlefields affect people’s mental health worldwide. We need to understand the conflicts and differences of opinion and draw the appropriate lines strictly and practically. Familiarizing, recognizing, and evaluating these contents will lead to respecting their humanity toward each other. Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara was a supreme physician and established psychosomatic medicine in Japan. He has enlightened people with medical basic philosophy through the New Elderly Association (NEA) as Hinohara-ism, and emphasized holistic medicine and well-being. Such perspectives will contribute positive results for peace.

Commentary

As global perspectives, what have been the current political, economic, and social problems worldwide? Several important international issues have been ongoing, and we consider them from historical and background points of view. Extremely unfortunate wars in Europe and the Middle East have not been resolved yet [1]. Looking back at the world’s history, many wars begin with temporary conflicts of interest. According to several reports, the intentions of each country are also involved in various matters. Then, there is a clear possibility that urban battles will become more frequent, resulting in more destruction and casualties.

How will the high risk of such urban battlefields affect people’s mental health across the world? [2] Today’s deadly and uncompromising war enemies may become our closest allies in the future. Looking back at our history, we can also see how Germany and Japan became allies of the United States after World War II. Indeed, “peace” is a universal ideal, and all nations and individuals always aim to achieve peace itself. However, peace should not and cannot be achieved by eliminating, threatening to destroy, or oppressing “today’s enemies.” The first step in nonviolent negotiations towards peace would be to recognize the right of our current adversaries to live in peace, security, dignity, and prosperity.

What measures do we conduct as mental health professionals? We strive to be professional and overcome our personal subjective feelings and opinions [3]. It is important that we try to approach the whole and the parts appropriately. We need to understand the conflicts and differences of opinion and draw the appropriate lines strictly and practically. In doing so, we need to find cultural similarities, common interests, and resources, point out their importance, and focus on the future economic benefits of the direction. If possible, it is advisable to conduct surveys or polls of residents or voters on both sides of the conflict on “what is most important to you?” Such kinds of questionnaires will allow negotiators and mediators to determine the applicable direction to proceed.

What can be done as a concrete method? First of all, it is not easy to take an approach alone, so discussions with relevant parties are required. In order to achieve the goal, we collaborate with colleagues including social workers, psychologists, primary care workers, nurses, and related public health professionals. Then, identify target communities, whether urban or vulnerable local areas, and establish accessible, culturally-based mental health teams in the community or neighborhood [4]. After that, we can develop protocols and guidelines for training and developing the teams as they are formed.

In such a situation, the content of the education would become a crucial key. The process of cultivating and calmly building tolerance and acceptance of others is important at all levels. The range of target audiences should be considered, starting from preschoolers, deepening to adolescence, and then to general health, mental health, and well-being professionals in all fields. In particular, developed Western countries have included diverse cultures, ideas, concepts, and traditions from a global perspective point of view. Familiarizing, recognizing, and evaluating these contents will lead to respecting their humanity toward each other. These processes should be an integral part of major clinical training involving human-to-human relationships. Unless the process goes smoothly, several mental health issues may happen in urban areas, such as depression, fear, aggression, and personality disorders [5]. The situation is different in rural areas and across countries.

People have recently witnessed and experienced tumultuous times in several regions of the world. In their cases, various differences are emphasized in the light of national, cultural, ethnic, gender, religious, and political aspects. In particular, some media, leaders, or followers showed a tendency to evaluate situations as conflicts between good or evil, right or wrong, master or slave, and oppressors or victims. Such a way of thinking would not be recommended. From the world data, the current world population is 8.01 billion, and the top 5 countries are India (1.46 billion), China (1.42), the US (0.35), Indonesia (0.29), and Pakistan (0.26) [6]. Migrants and refugees are found from conflict zones to safer countries, where the international issue has been difficult to solve.

The author is a physician specializing in lifestyle-related diseases and psychosomatic medicine. There was a Japanese supreme physician, Shigeaki Hinohara, who established psychosomatic medicine in Japan. He was also internationally known and the director of St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo [7]. He has enlightened people with medical basic philosophy through the New Elderly Association (NEA) as Hinohara-ism [8]. Hinohara-ism includes a broad perspective and deep insight, which are related not only to medicine but also to education, society, art, and culture. One of the concepts proposed by Hinohara is holistic medicine [9]. Other similar concepts include comprehensive medicine, integrative medicine (IM), bio-psycho-social medicine, and whole person care [10]. We can compare the differences between conventional medicine and holistic medicine. These perspectives are divided into two aspects: they are i) the aspect of evaluating medicine and illness with treating them, versus ii) the aspect of observing medicine and the person with caring for them (Table-1). It can also be considered and compared as the doctor’s perspective vs. the patient’s perspective [11].

Table-1: Comparison between Holistic and Conventional Medicine

In summary, my mentor in medicine and in my whole life has been Dr. Hinohara [12]. Furthermore, Hinohara had learned much from Dr. Schweitzer and Lord Osler, who were also historically supreme physicians that everyone knows well. We would like to pursue their models as mental health professionals and always have to draw lessons from medical history and our shared past events [13]. As such a perspective direction for the future, continuous clinical and educational movements will hopefully provide certain positive influences on various social problems across the world.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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